Mark I. Pinsky thinks evangelical scientists in the U.S. should take a cue from their British counterparts:
Why this apparent difference between the U.S. and U.K. in the public perception of the dialogue between science and religion among leaders in their respective fields? It’s dangerous to extrapolate from a relatively small sample, but I suspect that demographics, law and politics might be involved.
Evangelicals are widespread and vocal in the U.S., less so in Europe. Christians in the USA enjoy broadcast privileges not shared by some of their European cousins, whose laws more severely restrict religious broadcasting. U.S. Christians — especially conservative ones — use the airwaves extensively to advance their positions on a range of issues that include science and medicine. Science education in the U.S. has become a hot political issue ripe for sound-bite frenzy; one of the most popular online articles circulated by evangelicals is “Ten questions to ask your biology teacher about evolution.”
Read his full piece here.